Not as explicitly gory as its successors, the film gets its nasty atmosphere across largely by suggestion. Filmed in grainy 16mm, which gives the film its gritty, all-to-realistic feel, with a largely amateur cast recruited from the drama department of the University of Texas in Austin, the movie was shot around the environs of the city.

The gas station was Ryan’s Hills Prairie Grocery, which recently became Bilbo’s Texas Landmark, 1073 State Highway 304, Bastrop (tel: 512.321.2049), east of Austin.

The chicken-infested Sawyer family home stood on Quick Hill Road, Round Rock, I-35, about ten miles north of Austin, Texas. In 1998, after falling into disrepair, it was dismantled and transported to the grounds of The Antlers Hotel1001 King Street, Kingsland, way to the northwest of Austin.

The Antlers Hotel itself, built in 1901 and beautifully restored, opening as a hotel in 1996, can be found on Highway 1431 in Kingsland, in the middle of a triangle formed by Burnet, Llano, and Marble Falls